


Storm, Wait Outside

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Series: Message From the Veins (Rare Pair Week) [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altered Mental States, Lil bit of a role reversal, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 04:47:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9702908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: Shiro's down for the count in a fight, and Matt has to step up.Written for VLD Rare Pair Week (Lions/Mice)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this fill's a teeny bit more metaphorical.
> 
> I made the prompts, so I give my self Official Permission. I'm good to go.
> 
> Beta'd by Xagrok

Matt had no idea what to do.

This had all gone terribly, horribly wrong.

First of all, this mission was supposed to be over.  They’d chased off the Galra, done whatever task the culture inevitably asked of them in addition, made friends, increased the alliance, yadda yadda blah blah.  It was all done.  That was supposed to be the end of it.  That was how the story went.  Planet of the week, been there done that, end of episode.

Except not today.

Matt wanted no part of this two-parter cliffhanger bullshit.

Because, okay, bugging Shiro into forgoing sleep for a bit to hang out had maybe not been the brightest of ideas.  But Matt wanted to stargaze on an alien planet, especially one with such little light pollution.  Katie had point blank refused, and Matt hadn’t pushed with her.  She’d taken a nasty tumble in the earlier fight, and she was bruised and irritable and needed the sleep anyway.  Dad was with Coran on the castle, probably taking the chance to have a couple of drinks and bitch.  So Shiro was the one Matt bothered.

The fact that Shiro had agreed had made Matt feel smug as hell.  Anytime he got Shiro to break out of that Good Little Leader crap was a red letter day in Matt’s book.  He stuck to those rules he’d developed like they were written into his DNA, but Matt knew better.  He saw the cracks, because he’d seen Shiro before.

Hell, that wasn’t even being accurate.  They all saw the cracks, regardless of their level of Shiro Knowledge.

So getting Shiro to run off with him, even if it was just for an half an hour, had been awesome.  He’d even been wearing his normal clothes, not the paladin armor, because they were supposed to be within audible range of the village.

Except they’d maybe started playing around, and Matt had jumped on Shiro’s back and declared himself King of Voltron, and it had maybe escalated to the point they strayed a bit beyond their boundaries.

Really, they’d sucked at the whole stargazing thing.  Which was fair, because maybe it was an excuse to draw Shiro out anyway.  Maybe he hadn’t tried very hard with Katie or Dad.  Whatever.  Who even cared?

None of that would have been a problem if this planet had stayed to the damn script.

But it hadn’t.  Instead, they’d nearly stumbled into a goddamn bounty hunter, out for that sweet, sweet Voltron loot.

And  _ that _ wouldn’t have been a problem, because Shiro was Shiro, and they were in close combat.  He’d managed to disarm the hunter of their gun pretty quickly.

But then the hunter had pulled out a strange looking, nearly green-bladed knife.  And when Shiro’s ability to fight depended on being within arm’s reach, it was pretty hard to avoid something like that.

Shiro hadn’t been stabbed, or even  _ cut _ , not really.  It was barely a scratch.

But then the bounty hunter had kicked off of Shiro and scrambled off, their jet pack flaring bright as they jumped off.

“Weird,” Matt had declared.  “Guess they bit off more than they could chew, huh?”

Shrio had nodded, but in hindsight the move had been just a little jerky and abrupt.  “Yeah, guess so.  We should head back.”

Whining, Matt had grabbed the gun with the intention of putting it with the Alteans frankly impressive range of weapons.  Why leave something that useful just lying around, after all?  Plus, if it was in Matt’s hands, it wasn’t in the hunters, and that was only a good thing.

They’d gotten about halfway back when Shiro had stopped.  His hands shook by his side, and he clenched them hard to stop it, but not before Matt saw.

“You okay?” He’d asked, trying to keep his voice light.  Too much concern and Shiro bucked like a spooked horse, after all.  “Kinda cold out here, right?  We need to get you something thicker than that thin shirt.”

Shiro had turned to look at him, and his pupils had been totally blown out.

Matt had just enough time to think ‘ _ oh, shit, poison,’  _ before Shiro abruptly turned on his heel and ran off the road and into the craggy rocks that surrounded the village.

Ah, hell.  “Was it something I said?” Matt called, for lack of anything else.  “Shiro? Shiro, c’mon, I agree with you, we need to head back to the village.  Warning everyone else?  Not getting ambushed?”

Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, because who the fuck knew where the hunter was around then.  But that wasn’t Matt’s way.

And it was probably the thing that kept him alive, because when Shiro burst out, it was to grab Matt and tug him down into the space between two larger rocks.

Going down with a grunt, Matt tried to push up, but Shiro yanked him back against his chest, one hand coming up to cover his mouth.  “Shh!” He hissed, eyes fever bright.  “They’ll hear.”

They?  Did he mean singular they, as in the bounty hunter of unknown pronouns, or did he mean they as in multiple someones?

Brow furrowed, Matt tried to pull his head back, but Shiro tightened his grip, his legs coming up to block Matt in.  “They’re coming, I can let them take you.  Not again, it was my fault, I’m sorry.  Not again, I can’t do it alone again.  Don’t let them take you.”

....The  _ hell? _

Matt had a sinking feeling he did know what Shiro was talking about after all.

Gently reaching up, Matt took Shiro’s hand off his mouth. “I’m staying,” he told Shiro.  “I’m not going anywhere.  And you’re delirious, Shiro.  I don’t mean that in the mocking way, I mean you’re  _ literally _ delirious.  You were poisoned.  Remember the green knife?”

Shiro’s eyes stared into Matt’s without a hint of understanding.

Well, logic wasn’t going to work here, was it?

Matt sat up straighter, letting Shiro’s arms lock against the small of his back instead.  Then Shiro buried his face in Matt’s shoulder and started to shiver.  He could feel the vibrations of him speaking, but didn’t understand the words.  Likely more rambling.

And Matt had no idea what to do.  This was not his area of expertise.

Honestly?  Matt hadn’t seen Shiro have many bad flashbacks.  Sure, he’d freeze up sometimes, and when he was startled that arm was liable to light up, but they were mostly dangerous in a fight, not on their own.  And he didn’t usually  _ react _ like this.  Typically, Shiro went still, jolted back to reality, and then needed a few minutes to compose himself.

He was rarely this... out of it.  Off balance.

Terrified.

Shiro was often anxious, occasionally scared.

Even when they were first captured, Matt had never seen Shiro lose it from fear.  But now he was the one holding onto Matt and shaking, breath coming in short, panicked bursts.

Which meant it was Matt’s turn to step up.

“Okay,” Matt murmured, running a hand up and down Shiro’s back.  “It’s okay.  We’re safe here.”

Were they, though?  Because that hunter had to know what was going to happen when they nicked Shiro with that weird knife.  Now they were probably waiting around for it to take effect, and then they’d take Shiro while he was a much easier target.

Expression hardening, Matt drew the bounty hunter’s gun.

When Shiro had bolted down here, they were out of sight and almost certainly still out of hearing range for the rest of the village.  Which meant they needed a different sort of distress signal.

So Matt needed to-

He needed to crash to the ground, dragging Shiro with him, because there was crack, and the rock behind them shattered due to the force of impact.

Shit.  Too late.

The bounty hunter hopped down from on top of one of the rocks, landing in a crouch.  Their mask still hid their face, but Matt could see the shine of the moon reflecting off their eyes underneath.

Not super comforting.  And apparently Shiro agreed, because he tried to scramble back, half dragging Matt with him.

“Shiro, you need to- let go!” Matt hissed below his breath, trying to untangle himself.  But Shiro clung on stubbornly, eyes still fever bright and desperate.

Okay, Matt needed Shiro off, and he needed a chance to take a shot at this hunter, and he needed a way to get in contact with someone else.

And Matt had a plan.  But he didn’t have to like it.

When the bounty hunter moved forward, gun still strained on them, Matt shoved Shiro to the ground  _ hard _ , then rolled to straddle him.  “You want him?  Have him!”

Both stilled from shock.

“Matt?” Shiro murmured, because he picked this exact moment to be aware of his surroundings.  And damn if he didn’t sound hurt.  “What are you doing?”

“Getting saved,” Matt replied.  And because that wasn’t going to be enough for Shiro to figure out in this state, he snarled down in his face.  “I want  _ blood!” _

Then he aimed straight down at Shiro and fired.

The shot made the hunter pull back, an instinctive reaction to what should have been a spray of blood and other gross inside bits.

Instead, all that they got was a scorch mark on the rock next to Shiro’s head, and one paladin of Voltron who was in mortal danger.

Dangerously nearby, there was a roar.  

The hunter spun, automatically looking away and at the new source of danger.

Which was when Matt lifted his weapon and shot, hitting the hunter in the chest.  They collapsed in a heap, groaning.

Maybe it wouldn’t have been enough, except that the Black Lion took that moment to crash down onto the rocks, showering them in a rain of boulders.  If they came back from that, it wasn’t going to be in one piece.

Matt did not have it in him to care.

“I need to thank Dad for making me get qualified,” Matt mused, rolling off Shiro.  “I told him it was a stupid skill.  Whoops.  You okay in there?”

Shiro was still staring at him, eyes wide and confused.  “You  _ do  _ hate me.”

Ah, boy.  “Shiro, I do not regularly ask people I hate to gun run around and roughhouse with me, or to go on downright romantic stargazing field trips on alien planets.  Okay?  I want blood.  Remind you of anything?”

“When I...” Shiro shivered, curling up defensively.  But then his brow furrowed.  “Oh.  You were...”

“You’re drugged, Shiro.  Stay with me, here.”  Matt stood, then offered Shiro his hand.  “Let’s get you in the lion, okay?  The lion’s safe.  Sounds like a good place to be right now.”

Glancing over at where the black lion was watching them (creepy, the lions were  _ so creepy) _ , Shiro nodded.  “Yeah.  Safe.  Okay.”  He took the hand and laboriously dragged himself to his feet, noticeably swaying.  “You really don’t hate me?  I don’t want you to hate me.”

“I really, really don’t hate you.  Kind of the opposite.  C’mon now, in.  So we can get back to the castle and everyone can yell at me for being a bad influence to their level-headed leader.  You know what kind of scolding I’m in for?”

Shiro held onto Matt’s sleeve like a scared kid, allowing himself to be walked up to the black lion’s mouth.  “But I hurt you.”

“Yeah, well I pretended to shoot you.  We’re even now.  Really, pretty even.  I was scared, you freaked me out and saved me.  You were scared, I freaked you out and saved both of us.”  Matt finally looked at Shiro’s cracked expression and something in his chest cracked.  “Really, Shiro, I don’t hate you.  I don’t have it in me to hate you.”  Reaching out, he brushed Shiro’s bangs out of his face.  “You really have no idea.”

But Shiro’s terror barely wavered, and Matt figured this was really not the time to be having this conversation.  Assuming Shiro even remembered when he was back in his head.

“Can you make the lion go back to the castle?” Matt asked.  

Biting his bottom lip, Shiro held onto Matt’s sleeve for another moment, still watching him like a kicked puppy.  But then he nodded and visibly collected himself, walking over to the chair to pilot the lion.

Because that’s what Shiro did, when he was scared.  He worked at it, either finding a safe place or protecting someone he cared about.

Matt was trying to be worthy of that.

Today, he felt like he’d proved that he could match Shiro.

***

“Hey,” Shiro murmured to Matt, stepping into the observation room.  “You have a minute?”

Matt shot him a thin smile, barely one side of his face quirking up.  “For you, Starshine?  I have two.  What’s up?  How are you feeling?”

“Good, now that Coran tracked down a counter for that poison.”  He rolled his shoulders.  “You don’t have to worry about getting yelled at.  I think they got it out of their system with me.”

Pausing, Matt turned to look at him.  “But I was the one that dragged you out.”

Shiro only offered a thin smile back.  “I’m supposed to be setting an example, not running off at weird hours of the night.  I was told on no uncertain terms that if I let myself make bad choices because of a crush again, there’d be consequences.”

“Man, you make one fun, silly choice for yourself and everyone jumps on you?  Screw that, Shiro, you’re allowed to have some moments to-”  Matt paused.  “Wait, you wanna run that by me again?”

Stepping forward, Shiro took a deep breath, and it shook on the exhale.

Shiro was scared.  And he was scared because-

A hand cupped Matt’s cheek, and he swallowed hard.  

“I figured it was my turn to be brave, since you did it for both of us today.”  Then Shiro leaned down and kissed him.  “Thank you.”

Oh.

“You know, I just said we were even,” Matt told him, but he was grinning as he stepped closer, so their chests pressed together.  “Now you’ve gone and tipped the balance again.  You bastard.”

Shiro’s eyes widened, but then he grinned.  “Well, I think that means you’d better be brave too.”

“Guess so,” Matt replied.  “Hey, Takashi?  Next time I drag you away to have fun, I want it to be a date.”

“Good,” Shiro replied, and kissed him again.

Bravery.  Matt could get used to it, if this kept up.


End file.
